7.7.08

Fruit Cocktail

I have been having writer's block. One post I have been trying to write for awhile is being reworked and rehashed and I can never get it right. Soon it is going in the garbage (french pronunciation of gar-bahhhge). I think it is because the post is pointless. A commmon blogging malady of mine.

Speaking of blogging maladies, I have been giving some thought to blogging etiquette. For example, is it necessary or polite to ask permission before posting a link to someone else's blog on your blog? I just put them on there - if I read the blog regularly, there is a link. I am notoriously lazy about acknowledging comments. I like getting them and I like leaving them on other blogs, although I seldom do. Mostly I just read. I admire bloggers who respond to each comment. Maybe I can be better about this.

I joined Facebook a few weeks ago. Now that is blogging on crack. Some of my colleagues twisted my arm and I signed up. All of a sudden people start coming out of the woodwork. Newsflashes of what everyone is reading, memes and quiz results, photos of everyone's day to day adventures, superpokes and birthday reminders of some guy you talked to twice in your life are rolling in every day....Sheesh! But...somehow...it is strangely fun. What will they think of next?

Last week I experienced a German hospital stay for the first time. I have otosclerosis, a genetic condition that affects my hearing. It is usually treatable with surgery and so I opted to go for it on one ear for now. As it turns out the clinic that invented the surgery is in Tübingen so I checked in last Monday morning and stayed to Thursday morning for the surgery and recovery. So far so good but it will be a few months before we know exactly how successful it was. In related news, the highlight of last week was washing my hair after 5 days. Gross!

I stay home in Munich this week. 1 more week of downtime before going back to work. Next week will be my last planned week in Basel with the exception of moving out in September. It's off to Singapore again for a month and then vacation.

M. is joining at the end and we have decided to take our holiday in the Philippines (the random photos throughout this post). Details are being worked through but we are hoping to split the time between trekking/hiking, beach bumming and getting our PADI open water certification finally. The weather will be iffy, as in most of Southeast Asia at that time of year but I'm hoping for more nice days than bad.

The pictures in this post aren't mine but most the pics on this blog are. It has become a hobby of mine but I am still learning. Fun way to pass time and I especially like to capture shots when traveling - better than souvenirs.